[Elora]

Uien watched from the window, her palm pressed against the pane of glass as Falowik's golden head walked away from below. Her heart grew within her and then shrank. I have driven him away?

"No," she whispered brokenly to the glass. He did not look up. It could not be that this was so. This was his chance, this search party, the chance so long denied to him. She would not consign him to struggle. If one had to leave, it would be her, though each day would be like to a year and her heart would ever lie cold within her. Uien surged upright, spun for the door and there checked herself as a knock sounded. Lira's voice filtered through the wood. So, Doderic and Thoronmir had sent Lira to give her word of her explusion. Smoothing her countenance as best she could with a last bid for some shred of dignity, Uien moved to the door and opened it. With a wan smile, she waved Lira through.

"Please, be welcome, Lira," she said. Lira studied Uien a moment and stepped through.

"I hope I do not intrude," Lira began uncertainly, for Uien was far from calm and serene.

"No, please, will you sit?" Uien gestured to a chair which Lira took up with a nod as Uien pulled her own chair away from the window. As her back was briefly turned to Lira, her gaze directed at the now empty vista through the window, Uien was struck by the sense that Lira was watching her in turn. With a sigh, Uien sat.

"I do not have anything to offer you by way of refreshment. But then such niceties would likely only make this harder, would it not?" Lira raised a brow, unsure of what to make of Uien's statement.

"Perhaps," she replied cautiously. Uien braced herself and sat in silence, waiting for the expected words to be spoken. Lira, sensing Uien's unrest suddenly changed tack. "It may be easier if I sing for you a lament I heard first in Imladris."

Uien did not expect such a thing, but made no sound of demurrment. She instead nodded, wondering if a lament for foolish maidens who conduct themselves with a cruel disregard for the consequences of their actions. At her nod, Lira fell silent a moment, ordering the words and melody in her mind and started to sing.

In Lorien fair a maiden did dwell,
The fair beauty of twilight she loved well,
Beneath golden boughs would she dance and sing,
On the eve of battle,
Before the Ring.

Uien sat still as a stone. As still as the stones of Caradhras, as the lament went on to describe. As she sat, Lira's voice unfolded a lament of a maiden lost in a malestrom of ice. The melody of the lament was haunting. It soared and fell, weaving a tale of grief that fell on the very edge of the eternal peace of Valinor, to which the maiden was travelling with her family. The verses were the work of her brother. She recognised his voice in the words. He told of searching for her, in vain. He spoke of the anguish of realising the maiden was dead and the impossible battle to believe it in his heart.

When Lira's song came to it's ending, Uien was frozen to her chair, her head bowed.

"This I heard in Imladris. It was sung in the Hall of Fires the first evening that the last party from Lothlorien arrived. There were two there, a Lady and her son. Both were on the verge of ruin, stricken... by the loss of their beloved Uien Aduial."

Uien drew in a shaking breath as Lira spoke her name. Her eyes were closed. Lira paused leaning towards the other Elf.

"I remembered them because of their sorrow and because I had seen them before, in Lothlorien. I remembered them from happier times, when their family had been whole. So different from those I beheld that afternoon.

"They reached the Grey Havens, and they set sail. It is said in Imladris that they are the only two who ever set out for Valinor looking at the fading shore of Middle-earth, waiting for you beyond hope."

At that, Uien shook with a sob before she could press her hands over her mouth to still them. She raised her head, tears marking their course down her pale cheeks.

"It is you, is it not?" Uien nodded mutely at first. Through her tears she spoke brokenly.

"I looked for them. I could not find them. I thought the storm had..."

Lira placed a hand on Uien's shaking shoulder.

"They looked for you. Your brother went back up the mountain to find you. What happened, Uien? Where were you?"

Another violent shudder rippled through Uien.

"I was... beneath the mountain." It was all she could say of that. Lira sensed a darkness fall over Uien and she fell silent herself, wondering what that boded.

"They looked for me," Uien asked again. Lira smiled and nodded gently.

"Yes, your brother wished to return again. He could not, for your mother was fading with grief and the Havens were his only choice were she to find some measure of peace."

Uien nodded, imagining it for herself. Yes, for after Doriath and all that followed, that was his duty. THEY LIVE! There was silence in the room again as Uien struggled with this new information, this gift from Lira. Lira well understood the import of the lament and for the moment kept her questions for another time. There would be ample on the journey ahead.

"Lira, this is precious. They live, in peace in Valinor!" The joy of Uien's new knowledge glowed within her eyes.

"It will be as though you have returned from the Halls of Mandos, Uien Aduial," Lira observed sagely. Uien nodded pensively for the ramifications were significant. She had kin to return to, if she chose. No matter what she chose, it would not be easy to explain anyone.

"I am in your service, Lira, for you have restored to me a great thing. You have given me my family. There can be no greater gift. I am bound to you, by honour and friendship both."

Lira warmly clasped back Uien's hand. In that moment, Uien knew Lira understood.

"I should leave you. You have much to consider," Lira said simply by way of withdrawing. Indeed Uien did, not least of which how to explain to Lira what had happened. The hours of the afternoon stretched into dusk in a blur for Uien. So it was that Uien answered Twilight's call to her. She ever found it easier to know her mind and heart at this magical time of day.

Uien drifted as if in a dream down the stairs of the inn and out into the sunset. She did not hear Falco Boffin at the bar, with a fine example of a half pint in his custody, respond to a question from his companions regarding the strange elf.

"Who, her? Probably out to dance about some trees somewhere. Elves are like that," he said authoritatively, taking another pull at his tankard. Instead, Uien's feet trod the same path as Falowik's had earlier in the afternoon. Once she had found the oaks, Uien stopped. The new stars were starting to emerge one by one.

To greet them, Uien permitted herself a song, from memory. She had sung it often, upon a time, at twilight. In the trees, Uien spun, face upturned to see the stars. Alive! She wandered through the boles of the trees, hand trailing over their rough bark. When she came to stand still, Uien was facing the direction of the Grey Havens to the East.

Uien stood where she was for a long time, breathing in the cooler night as her mind stretched and raced. It would not be easy, but her choice was made.

"What would you say, mother? And what of you, brother? Would you look into my eyes and heart and bid me to follow it, as you yourselves have done?" Uien murmured this to the miles set between her and Valinor. "You always knew, did you not? My heart dwells not in undying but life. What would you say?"

The night did not answer Uien as she stood amongst the oaks. A breeze whispered through the leaves. The stars shimmered as ever they had since Varda had set them in place. Perhaps they would bear witness to Valinor to those she would send word to if she could. Perhaps...